Sermon Tone Analysis

/Tonight I want to talk to you about the Christian virtue of hope.

But before I do, I want to warn you that it’s easy to think about, talk about or sing about hope and still miss its reality.

/

Hank Williams is a name synonymous with country music.

In his brief, tragic life, he wrote thousands of songs, performed in front of maybe millions of people, defining country before country was cool.

One CD anthology of his work is entitled “Turn Back the Years” and consists of 3 CDs: Drinkin’ Lovin’ and Prayin’His most famous “prayin’” song is “I Saw the Light” in which he sang, “I saw the Light, I saw the Light, no more in darkness, no more in night….Praise the Lord, I saw the Light.”

The words express a joy most Christians experience when they put their hope in Jesus Christ as the Light of their lives.

But Hank Williams never personally experienced the hope he sang about.

Toward the end of his life, Williams was so drunk one night in San Diego that he stumbled off stage after finishing only two songs in a two-show gig.

Minnie Pearl and the promoter's wife drove him around town trying to sober him up enough to do the second show.

They tried to get him to sing along with them to revive him.

He sang only one verse of "I Saw the Light" before stopping.

"Minnie," Williams said, "I don't see no light.

There ain't no light."

*            */One of the great tragedies of Hank Williams’ life was that he could write about and sing about a hope he didn’t possess.

/

/You and I face the same danger today.

You can read the words of hope in the Bible, sing the precious hymns of hope as loud as anybody else, yet still remain blind to the hope that Jesus Christ can give you.

You can lose hope for your marriage or family, lose hope in the Bible or the church, even lose hope in God Himself.

You can sink into the dark hopelessness that cries out, “I don’t see no light.

There ain’t no light.”/

/I want to talk to you today about how to find hope, either for the first time or the fiftieth time.

We’re going to look at a vision given to the nation of Israel during perhaps their most hopeless moment in their history.

We’re going to see how God helped them get their hopes up and how God can help us get our hopes back up again.

Turn with me please to *Exekiel 37:1-14*.

/

*PRAYER*

*            *To begin with, let’s get our bearings in this section of the Bible.

Ezekiel is one of what are known as the major prophets (because of its size.)

His ministry spanned the years just before and just after the Babylonian exile of Jerusalem and the rest of the nation of Judah.

His first messages (*1-32*) predict God’s judgment and the exile, along with several prophesies concerning individual nations.

His second set of messages ( *33-39*, which include the one we’ll read tonight) are given during the exile, and are meant to revive Israel’s hope in God.

The final chapters (*40-48*) of Ezekiel describe God’s blueprint for Israel’s future.

The book of Ezekiel is full of both warning and promise, both judgment and hope.

These words are meant to bring hope to these defeated, discouraged people.

How?

First of all, Ezekiel’s vision reminds us : */Life can seem hopeless./*

(*v.

1-3*)

I recently read about a young lawyer who descended into a hopeless depression.

Things were going so poorly for him that his friends kept all knives and razors away from him for fear he could commit suicide.

In fact, during this time he wrote in his diary, “I am now the most miserable man living.

Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell.

I fear I shall not.”

No matter how optimistic you try to be, there are times when everything seems hopeless.

Ezekiel’s vision paints a very vivid picture of the hopelessness of the nation of Israel.

The scene is creepy.

Ezekiel is transported by the Spirit into a large, dark valley /full/ of human bones.

Imagine the shock of finding yourself ankle deep in skeletons and skulls, lying everywhere you look.

As he staggers through the grisly scene, he notices these bones are /very dry/, indicating that they have been dead for a long time.

The questions must flood Ezekiel’s mind: /Where am I? Who were all these dead people?

Why am I here?

/The Lord responds by asking a question: /Son of man, can these bones live?

/

/            /How would you answer?

Surely there is no more hopeless scene than a valley full of dry bones?

In the middle of a surely hopeless situation, Ezekiel’s reply is faintly hopeful: /O Lord God, *You know*.

It doesn’t look too likely, Lord, and I certainly cannot see how, but You’re really the only Person Who can answer that question.

/

            *Vs.11*

tells us these bones symbolize His people, Israel living in exile, with no human hope of ever returning home again.

It looks as if they will never live to see God’s promise fulfilled: that Israel would possess this land and be His special people.

From a strictly human standpoint it looks hopeless.

/You’ve been there, haven’t you?

You’ve felt the cold hand of hopelessness rest on your shoulder, tempting you to call it quits, inviting you to give up your dreams, grow up and face the facts, get real.

Life can seem hopeless./

/            There’s no hope your marriage will ever be healed.

/

/            There’s no hope that son~/daughter will ever come back to you/

/            No hope that lost loved one will ever come to Christ.

/

/            No hope my sins will ever be forgiven.

/

/            No hope things will ever get better.

/

/             Son of man these bones live again?

/

/O Lord,* You know*.//

/

/When life seems hopeless, it’s time to turn to the Lord.

Only He can bring hope even when all hope seems lost.

With God, it’s always too soon to give up hope.

/

The young lawyer I told you about eventually discovered this for himself.

He survived his period of depression, and struggled through many more to finally be elected President of the United States—a chap  by the name of Abraham Lincoln.

/            When life can seem hopeless look to the Lord, because there is always hope with Him.

/

/             /But how does He give us hope in these seemingly hopeless situations?

Ezekiel’s vision shows us in *vs.

4-10* (*read*).

/            /This scene gets stranger by the minute.

God commands Ezekiel to preach to these dry dead bones.

I’ve felt like Ezekiel did sometimes when I’m preaching!

But seriously---dead people don’t hear.

Skeletons don’t have ears.

Why in the world would you preach to dead bones?

Why would you call out in this valley of death /O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord! /

/            //Because *God’s Word brings hope to the hopeless*.

/

            God assures Ezekiel /He /can resurrect these bones, put muscle and skin on them and breath in them.

/You just preach, and I’ll do the rest, Zeke.

/

            So the prophet starts to speak, and the weirdness ratchets up another level.

First a rattle among the bones, then they rise up and start connecting to one another.

As Zeke’s eyes grow wider, muscles and tissue begin to cover the bones, and finally skin wraps itself around the bodies of these dead people.

But there is no spirit in them---just empty bodies, standing like zombies in the valley.

Then God commands Ezekiel /preach to the wind, that the spirit will enter these bodies.

/Every Jew who read this immediately equated the /wind= the breath of life.

/

*Ge 2:7* /And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being./

/            /In the Hebrew language, the word /rûah/= breath~/wind~/spirit.

As Ezekiel preaches to the wind, the Holy Spirit gives life to these bodies, and they, too, become living souls.

In *vs.

12-14* God explains this resurrection symbolizes how He will raise the nation of Israel back from their spiritual death and bring them back to the land of Promise.

Though it looks like it’s all over for them, God gives them hope that He can restore life to them.

Why would you call out in this valley of death /Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe on these that they may live?

/

            /Because *God’s Spirit brings hope to the hopeless.*